Your move, Mr. President

Yesterday, before leaving town for Christmas, the Senate approved 30 more of President Obama’s nominees for federal posts. However, it did not approve Dawn Johnsen, Obama’s choice to head the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department. There was no vote on Johnsen, she just “ran into opposition,” in the words of Harry Reid’s aide Jim Manley. In other words, the Dems didn’t have the votes to confirm her.
The White House now will have to decide whether to renominate Johnsen. Its decision will be a valuable indicator of just how stridently ideological Obama intends to be in year two of his presidency.
There weren’t many Republican victories in the Senate this year, but blocking Johnsen’s nomination certainly counts as one.